The present invention relates in general to paint processes, and in particular to a process for touching up scratches and chips in automotive paints.
Prior art paint processes have been provided for touching up automotive paints. Typically, automotive touch up paints have been brushed or sprayed onto the surfaces of scratched or chipped automotive paints. However, brushing and spraying automotive touch up paints onto scratched and chipped paint surfaces does not exert sufficient pressure on the uncured touch up paints to overcome the surface tension of the liquid uncured touch up paints to move the touch up paints sufficiently into the scratches and small chips in the paint surfaces being repaired. Later polishing of the painted surface being touched up often results in removal of any touch up paint covering the scratch or chip, such that the scratch or chip remains visible. Similar touch up paint repair process have involved dabbing excessive amounts of touch up paint onto scratches and chips with brush applicators. This leaves a streak of paint which is usually not of a close color match, texture match or gloss match with the original automotive paint being touched up. Matching the gloss of modern clear coat automotive paint systems has proven difficult with conventional touch up paint systems. Typically, prior art repairs of scratches and chips in modern clear coat paints require that entire body panels of automobiles be repainted to touch up the automobiles.
An automotive paint repair process is disclosed for touch up of void spaces in automotive paints, such as for repairing scratches and chips in automobile paints. The painted surface to be touched up is first cleaned. A paint mixture is provided by mixing a base coat paint, a paint clear coat and a paint flow additive together. The paint mixture is applied to the surface of the paint being repaired, and the paint mixture is worked into void spaces in the paint. The paint mixture is worked into the void spaces, such as cracks and chips, by applying a minimum pressure of approximately one and one-quarter pounds per square inch directly to the paint mixture when the paint mixture is disposed on the surface of the paint, which forces the paint mixture into the void spaces. After an initial drying of the paint mixture, a polishing mixture is applied to the surface of the paint mixture and then the surface of the paint mixture is polished and heated using a natural wool fiber polishing pad. The polishing pad is pressed against the surface of the paint mixture with a minimum pressure of two pounds per square inch, with the polishing mixture disposed between the polishing pad and the surface of the paint mixture, and the polishing pad is moved relative to the painted surface at speeds in a range of approximately 800 feet per minute to approximately 1050 feet per minute. Preferably, the pressure applied in working the paint into the void space in the paint ranges from two and one-half to three pounds per square inch, and the polishing pad is pressed against the surface of the paint mixture with a pressure of approximately six pounds per square inch. The polishing pad is preferably provided by a rotary polishing pad having a pile of natural wool fibers. The pile has yarn strands with first diameters of approximately one-eight inch, lengths of approximately one and one-half inches, and a density of approximately one hundred and twenty eight yarn strands per inch.